Checking the price of car tax before buying a used car

almillar

VED is a pollution tax

Only from April 2001 to (?) March 2017 I think. Before that you paid it based on your car having a bigger than, or smaller than 1.6l. After that, everyone will pay mostly the same, with low emission cars paying less, and expensive cars paying more AFAIR.

Iceweasel

almillar wrote: »

Only from April 2001 to (?) March 2017 I think. Before that you paid it based on your car having a bigger than, or smaller than 1.6l. After that, everyone will pay mostly the same, with low emission cars paying less, and expensive cars paying more AFAIR.

Not quite - there are to be three levels -

ZERO emissions (not LOW missions) will have a tax rate of £0

Standard tax will be £140 per year for all other cars irrespective of high/low emissions.

However for the first year the tax does depend on the emissions - there is a (as usual)`a complicated plan for that:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vehicle-excise-duty/vehicle-excise-duty

Note that there is an 'expensive' car premium tax for vehicles with a list price of over £40K - they will cost £200 for the first year and then £450 per year for subsequent years - that means they pay extra forever.

jimjames

Nasqueron wrote: »

Why?

VED is a pollution tax, logically if a car pollutes less it should attract lower tax than a high polluting car

Not on older vehicles it's not. It's purely engine size based which has no direct correlation to pollution.

AnotherJoe

I wonder how the "list price" of a car is defined?

eg suppose a car is £39,999 (I suspect a lot will hit that figure ) if I then purchase say the sat nav option at £2 (I wish) is that counted because the list price went over £40k? Or is it just the base model price?This will be like it used to be with buying a house with stamp duty bands, when it was either £250k or about £270k and up.

And, if a car has a list price of £40,001 but a manufacturer deal with £2k off if you buy this month, does that mean it falls below the threshold?

pompeyrich

bigadaj wrote: »

So do away with the 'tax' and put it all on the fuel.

They've already covered that option, 69.5p fuel duty and VAT per litre, so less fuel efficient cars pay more that way AND through higher RFL.

bigadaj

pompeyrich wrote: »

They've already covered that option, 69.5p fuel duty and VAT per litre, so less fuel efficient cars pay more that way AND through higher RFL.

Yes but combining would be far easier to enforce and protect their revenue.

I've seen some talk of reintroducing the paper tax on the windscreen as the level of avoidance has gone up.

pompeyrich

bigadaj wrote: »

Yes but combining would be far easier to enforce and protect their revenue.

I've seen some talk of reintroducing the paper tax on the windscreen as the level of avoidance has gone up.

i agree it would be far easier to collect and more difficult to avoid paying the RFL if it was incorporated in the fuel cost, although I could see them raising the "road fund bit" one month and the "fuel duty bit" another and increasing their revenue by stealth but I suppose they'll get it one way or another.

I'm surprised they haven't put the tax/mot/insurance checks out to private companies yet, a bit like the "safety" camera partnerships. I was expecting to see check points all over the place when they abolished the tax disc.

forgotmyname

It was easier to check the price with the old DVLA system, pop the reg in and it told you if it was taxed and how much per year. Now it tells you the CO2 level and you need to goto a page to see which band its in.

Why not put the price?

Iceweasel

AnotherJoe wrote: »

I wonder how the "list price" of a car is defined?

eg suppose a car is £39,999 (I suspect a lot will hit that figure ) if I then purchase say the sat nav option at £2 (I wish) is that counted because the list price went over £40k? Or is it just the base model price?This will be like it used to be with buying a house with stamp duty bands, when it was either £250k or about £270k and up.

And, if a car has a list price of £40,001 but a manufacturer deal with £2k off if you buy this month, does that mean it falls below the threshold?

There has been a load of discussion on that very aspect of it on several other forums - Audi, M-Benz & BMW - where there are several models around the magic £40K mark.

Apparently it's the official manufacturer's list price - including any options - that will be the deciding factor.

So getting a £41K car reduced to £39K by having 'contributions' and 'incentives' won't help.